CLICK HERE NOW To get in touch with us to discuss our classes!
The Jeet Kune Do (JKD) concepts and methods practiced at Kickfit cover all four ranges of empty hand combat – kicking, punching, trapping and grappling range.
The Jeet Kune Do classes also incorporate weapon training such as stick, knife, nunchaku and any item that could be considered a useful weapon in everyday life.
Many of the Jeet Kune Do techniques are learnt and practiced with a partner using focus pads for sharp precision techniques and Thai pads / kick shields for more powerful techniques.
The trapping and grappling techniques are practiced through drills but also incorporated into realistic combinations worked through with a partner.
All classes are suitable for complete beginners, intermediate and advanced students.
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee (Lee Hsiao Lung) is the father of Jeet Kune Do. As with all children it was born without a name, but was given one out of necessity. People saw Jeet Kune Do as another martial art and as such it needed a label. For Bruce though, this was less of a martial arts system and more of a life philosophy, one he had been developing since a very early age.
So what is the nature of JKD? As a philosophy what does it say and as a martial art how does it work?
Bruce Lee had an extensive library of martial arts books (over 2000 at the time of his death). He trained with people from many disciplines and constantly absorbed new techniques. He grew to see that in the martial arts, form was a weakness. Attacking a problem in a set way left little room to adapt as situations changed. On a simple level, someone who had trained as a kicker would have problems if grappled to the floor by a wrestler, they simply would not have the tools with which to cope.
"If you only focus on the finger you will miss all the Heavenly glory!"
JKD Concepts
This concept was extended beyond fighting, as has already been said, into a way to live your life. The basic tenet is that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Similarly, there will be a simplest solution to any problem. The idea of JKD is to empty your mind of all preconceptions, anticipations and worries and to attack the problem clinically. In a real fight you must not worry about the conclusion, worrying would just be a distraction. This applies equally to any challenge in life.
In order to achieve this you must strive for an understanding of as many fields of knowledge as possible, thereby giving you more potential to find that shortest route. You must also be willing to attack any problem with the means necessary for the job. Half-hearted measures lead to failure.So JKD is formless, it has no one style.
Instead it takes from all styles and moulds them together. It appreciates all styles but uses only that which works. What works will be different for each practitioner. For instance, as age takes its toll, Tae Kwon Do is less likely to be a viable option for the martial artist. Put a walking stick in a JKD man’s hand and he could still be an effective combatant if he is schooled in the Filipino martial arts.
So how do you learn something that is formless? How do you learn a style that has no style? How do you become like water and flow around a problem?
The answer is to firstly train in a number of styles… to be bound in order to appreciate freedom. It is a Zen-like truth that once you can operate with an empty mind and react on instinct, only then will you understand JKD.
This brings us then to the question of how to structure this learning? In order to be effective in all situations a JKD practitioner should be able to employ skills at the following ranges:
- Missile
- Weapon
- Kicking
- Punching
- Trapping
- Grappling
Clearly then JKD will encompass many styles. It is a vast art that takes years to learn, but is ultimately highly effective and rewarding. Hopefully of course you will never need to use it to defend yourself. However the outlook on life that it engenders is so positive that it is worth studying for that benefit alone.
If you have any questions or would like to visit the gym, just contact us, we’ll be happy to hear from you.
